


The Soulmate Phenomenon

by ChildishGaybino



Category: Original Work
Genre: Dry Humping, Gay, Heavy Drinking, Homo, Light Dom/sub, M/M, Male Lactation, Male Pregnancy, Marijuana, Mpreg, Orgasms, Original Character(s), Recreational Drug Use, Self-Lubrication
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-20
Updated: 2016-07-20
Packaged: 2018-07-25 15:42:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7538482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChildishGaybino/pseuds/ChildishGaybino
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nobody really knows where it started, the soulmate phenomenon that is, there are a lot of speculations and theories but none of them have been confirmed. In this world everybody has their one true other half; their soulmate. Their soulmate's name, from the very beginning is etched into the fabric of their DNA. It's hard to explain how you know you've found them, but there is just a feeling of being complete and content. Their are all kinds of orientations in the soulmate phenomenon, and in even rare cases, asexual and aromantic orientations. From when you become a teenager, to the day you become an adult, letters, or halves of letters, depending on the length of their name, slowly start to appear. The day you become an adult, you finally get your soulmate's full name.</p>
<p>It all started with a bang, the day that Carter and Alexander met. Two souls, who were no doubt, meant for each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Nobody really knows where it started, the soulmate phenomenon that is, there are a lot of speculations and theories but none of them have been confirmed. In this world everybody has their one true other half; their soulmate. Their soulmate's name, from the very beginning is etched into the fabric of their DNA. It's hard to explain how you know you've found them, but there is just a feeling of being complete and content. Their are all kinds of orientations in the soulmate phenomenon, and in even rare cases, asexual and aromantic orientations. From when you become a teenager, to the day you become an adult, letters, or halves of letters, depending on the length of their name, slowly start to appear. The day you become an adult, you finally get your soulmate's full name.

It all started with a bang, the day that Carter and Alexander met. Two souls, who were no doubt, meant for each other.

-

"Hey lazy ass, go break that fight up over there!" Carter's manager Dick, yelled at him. No really, his name is Dick, it says it on his name tag and all, but his name doesn't disappoint, he really was one.

He heard the shouts before he saw it, but then he spotted two grown men fighting in the corner of the food court. One of them, in particular, caught Carter's eye. He had jet black hair that was shaved at the sides, with a quiff, and was very tall. But mostly everybody was taller than Carter, because he was only a mere 5,5", but nonetheless, he seemed very tall. He stopped staring at the incredibly attractive male, and sprinted towards the fight. They were still shouting at each other, throwing insults and cussing more than Carter had probably ever in his entire life.

"Hey! Stop fighting!" He yelled at them in a weak attempt to get them to not carry on with the fight. Quiff-boy looked at Carter, or more like stared. Quiff-boy had a very strong jaw, and the most beautiful eyes Carter had ever seen, they were an intriguing hazel-green color. Carter got pulled out of his trance that this insanely attractive human being had him in, when the other guy punched Quiff-boy hard in the face. Quiff-boy's face snapped to the side, and he stumbled. He abruptly turned back to the other man, and Carter gasped at the amount of blood pouring out of his nose. He resisted the urge to run and get him an ice pack and a wet paper towel to clean up his face for him. He instead did the most stupid thing that a boy who was incredibly short, really skinny, and couldn't throw a punch to save his life could do; throw himself into the middle fight. Carter regretted the action almost just as he had done it, and looked up at the two men frightened. The other male besides quiff-boy look very angry that Carter had interfered with his fight, and raised his fist to punch him. This whole situation reminded Carter to much of high school, and he cowered away from the man with his fist raised. He stood there, frozen and in fear, and waited for the fist to come in contact with his face. It was just like high school, not being able to defend himself against the bullies who picked on him and hit him everyday. He just stood there and took it.

The man did indeed aim towards Carter's face, but what happened next was not what he expected to happen. Quiff-boy pushed Carter behind him, and punched the other guy in the stomach who keeled over with pain. Security then came over and escorted the two men out of the mall. Carter walked slowly back over to where he worked, Subway.

"Really? You weren't even going to try to defend yourself?" Dick snickered, his eyes sparkling with amusement. Carter glared at him, slipped on his burgundy hoodie, grabbed his wallet and walked out of the mall. He sighed when he realized it was pouring down rain, he had to walk everywhere because he couldn't even begin to afford a car, and it was a good half-hour walk to his crappy apartment in a crappy part of town. Carter pulled up his hood, and started walking home.

Carter pulled up his sleeve a little bit, and pulled down the band that he wore just like everybody else that covered the name on his wrist; his soulmate's name. The Soulmate Phenomenon was supposed to happen naturally, not forced. He examined the tattoo on the inside of his wrist. Alexander; it was a simple, but beautiful name. Carter always wondered what his soulmate will look like, and what kind of person he is.

-

Alexander couldn't stop thinking about the boy with lavender colored hair. The boy who was so short, and so skinny, and had beautiful innocent eyes that were whiskey colored. He also couldn't stop thinking about his up-turned perfect, cute, little nose. Alexander couldn't stop thinking about the beautiful boy. He felt guilty, to be honest. He had a soulmate out there named Carter, and he couldn't stop thinking about the beautiful boy. He got up from the bed to examine his aching nose and cheek. It looked horrible, it had quickly bruised and swelled, and was really unattractive. Alexander thought back to when the beautiful boy had stepped in between him and the man who dared to cheat on he sister that he was extremely protective over . When the other man had raised his fist, the beautiful boy had looked so frightened. All Alexader wanted to do is hold him close and never let anybody hurt him again. He wanted nothing more than to protect him, but he couldn't, He had his soulmate and the beautiful boy had his. He knew it was wrong, but he had made the decision, that tomorrow Alexander was going to go back to the mall to see this beautiful boy again. He had too.

-

Alexander quickly put on his old black combat boots, and headed out the door of his unnecessarily expensive house. His father and him had a mutual hatred for each other, so Alexander's dad bought him a house to live in instead of actually living with each other. Alexander's dad was a highly paid politician, and was extremely rich - he was a millionaire. His dad sadly doesn't care much about him, and that tore up Alexander a little more then he would ever admit, but his dad gave him all the money he wants and needs. Alexander unlocked his black jeep and started driving down the street to the mall, excited to see the beautiful boy. He remembered yesterday how soft his lavender hair looked, He had an unnerving desire to run his fingers through it, and he still does. Alexader scrolled through his music on his phone and clicked on Jesus Christ by Brand New.

He pulled into the mall parking lot, and was relieved to see that there weren't many people here, he didn't think there would be, considering it was early Monday afternoon. He walked to the food court, and then to Subway, his heart beating faster and faster with the anticipation of seeing the beautiful boy again.

Alexander spotted him, and he let a smile creep onto his face. The beautiful boy was sleeping, his chin rested in his hands. He was so adorable. Alexander walked over to him and cleared his throat. The beautiful boy jolted awake and looked around frantically.

"Oh shoot! I'm so sorry sir!" He said and looked at Alexander with apologetic eyes.

'How endearing," Alexander thought, 'He doesn't like cussing.'

"It's okay, don't worry about it," Alexander responded and couldn't help but look him over. The beautiful boy had on a baggy grey sweater, black skinny jeans, and purple vans along with the black Subway apron and hat that he was required to wear. Alexander looked for a name tag, but it looked like it had fallen off. The beautiful boy wrapped his arms around himself self-consciously and blushed.

"So, um, do you, uh, want something to, um, eat?" The beautiful boy asked, and blushed even more, realizing what he had just said. Alexander bit his lip to keep from smiling. Alexander told him his order, and the beautiful boy made it quickly.

"Wait, aren't you that guy from the fight yesterday?" The beautiful boy asked Alexander, his whiskey eyes widening.

"Yeah, sorry about that by the way," he said, hiding his excitement that he was having a conversation with the beautiful boy.

"It's okay. Did they really let you back in?"

"Yeah. Don't sound so surprised. The guy I was going to beat up, he fucking cheated on my sister," Alexander said, still angry at the man from yesterday. The beautiful boy frowned and nodded, not liking his choice of words. He handed Alexander a Subway bag with his sandwich in it.

"Have a nice day," he said and smiled at Alexander.

"You too," he replied and gave him a short wave before walking away.

-

Alexander was at a bar, with his sister, and the beautiful boy was here to. He was with somebody, some Asian boy, and Alexander couldn't help the pang of jealousy that went through him every time the beautiful boy laughed or smiled because of the Asian boy. Alexander wanted to be the one making him laugh and smile. The beautiful boy had on what he wore earlier today, but a black beanie covering some of his lavender hair, and instead of a sweater he had on a black t-shirt that had the 1975 scrawled across it and his sweater resting on his lap. Alexander walked over to the bar, and order another beer. He wasn't drunk yet. Besides, he was here with his sister and she could drive him home, or if she decides to go home with somebody he could always get a taxi. It's not liked he worked, or went to school either. He was a high school drop out, and had had tons of money. He had not a thing to worry about. Alexander realized he had already finished his beer, and quickly ordered himself another one, and drank all of that one too. He was a little drunk now, and starting to feel a little numb, but that was okay. Sometimes numb was good. He shrugged off his navy blue hoodie, and left it on the counter, knowing that he would forget it later, but he didn't care, he didn't particularly like that one anyway. He got up and stumbled away from the bar and leaned up against the wall and observed the beautiful boy again. He was drumming his fingers on the counter, and he had a huge grin on his face. Alexander smiled as he threw back his head, put his arms up and spun around on the bar stool. An arm was slung around my shoulders and he grudgingly yanked his attention away from the beautiful boy.

"What are you looking at?" His twin sister, Mel, asked him, looking at him quizzically. Her jet black curly hair was tousled from dancing, her cream crop top had slid off her shoulder, exposing her bra strap. Her floral skirt was pulled up to her belly button, and her brown combat boots were untied. She was also extremely drunk.

"Nothing," Alexander mumbled and blushed a little. A big grin formed on Mel's face.

"Or should I say who are you looking at?" She slurred teasingly.

"Nobody," he said glaring at her, and focusing back upon the beautiful boy. His beanie started to slip off and he flailed around trying to catch it. She followed his gaze and grinned wickedly.

"The one with lavender hair, or the Asian?"

Alexander sighed, his sister was always trying to get him into a relationship. She thought he needed one.

"The beauti- I mean, the one with lavender hair," he said, correcting himself, glancing at her to see if she had noticed.

"Awww, you think he's beautiful!" She cooed.

"Thinks who is beautiful?" Alexander's best friend, Riley, said walking over to him and Mel. His dark brown hair was styled perfectly into a fringe, and he had on a jacket that was unzipped that exposed a t-shirt with some rock band that Alexander had never heard of.

"Nobody!" Alexander yelled quickly glaring at his sister.

"He thinks the boy with lavender hair is beautiful."

"The one right there?" Riley said and pointed at the beautiful boy.

"Yes and stop pointing," Alexander said and swatted his hand. Riley started walking over to the beautiful boy, and Alexander wrapped his arms around his neck.

"If you say anything I won't bail you out of jail next time," Alexander hissed. Riley's eyes widened and he held his hands up in surrender. Alexander slowly unwrapped his arms from around Riley's neck, and to Alexander's relief, he stayed put.

"Hey can we go to your place? I need to get my stuff. Claudia is coming back today, and I'm going to stay at her house for a week or so," Riley said. Claudia was Riley's soulmate, they had been Best friends since kindergarten, and later found out that they were soulmates. She was on vacation with her parents right now, and had been for a week.

"Yeah, just let me tell Mel we're leaving and see if she needs a ride home," Alexander said, and walked over to the bar where she was sitting.

"Hey I'm taking Riley to my place so he can get his stuff. Claudia is coming back tonight and he's staying at her place. Do you need a ride home?" Alexander asked her. He tried to not let it show that he was disappointed that Riley was leaving. He really hated being alone, and it scared him, to be honest. She looked at him sympathetically. Even drunk, she still knew that he was upset.

"Yeah, let's go."

Alexander dropped off Riley at his house first, and then he drove Mel over to her house, he stopped her as she was getting out of the car.

"He hasn't hit you, has he?" He asked her. It made him nervous, her being around their father.

Their mother died in a car accident, when Alexander and Mel were sixteen. She was pregnant with their baby brother. Their dad didn't take it too well, he started drinking a lot, and he started to hit Alexander. It was only slaps at first, but then he started beating him up almost every single day. Then came the verbal abuse. He blamed Alexander for his mom's death, he said Alexander was the one who caused him to drive him off the bridge, which wasn't true, he just wanted somebody to blame that wasn't himself.

He never hit Mel, she's the perfect child in his eyes. She's really really smart and is going to be a teacher. Alexander was the stupid high school drop out who couldn't do anything right, in the words of his father

"Alex, you know if he ever did I would pack up my stuff and come live with you,"

"Just be careful. Please."

"I always am," she said, got out of the car, and stumbled into her house."

-

Alexander was dropping Riley off at Claudia's house and the familiar feeling of loneliness was overtaking him, but he shoved it to the back of my mind. He should be happy, his best friend was seeing his soulmate again after not seeing her for a week.

As soon as he stopped the car, Riley jumped out and ran to Claudia, he picked her up and spun her around and they started kissing. Alexander looked away, he really wanted his soulmate. He wanted him so badly. Riley was lucky, usually people met their soulmate around the age of twenty to twenty one, but he had known his whole life. Alexander was twenty three, and still hadn't met his. He looked up and realized Riley and Claudia had already gone inside. He sighed and started driving to his lonely home.

Carter's phone ringing woke him up from accidentally falling asleep at his job. It's not like it mattered anyway, nobody was at the mall in the afternoons. He looked at the caller I.D and saw it was his best friend, Marshall.

"Hello?" Carter answered groggily. He heard Marshall chuckle in response.

"Fell asleep at work?" Marshall asked, feeling a little sorry for his insomniac best friend.

"Shut up," Carter muttered.

"What do you want," Carter said, accidentally coming across as rude.

"Somebody's grumpy," Marshall grumbled, the sympathy he had fading away.

"Yeah. Sorry," Carter said not-so-sincerely.

"It's fine. You want to come over tonight? My mom says my dad and her have a surprise for you." Marshall's parents considered Carter a son, which was kind of nice for Carter considering his parents had kicked him out for being gay. They were really religious.

"Sure. What's the surprise?" Carter asked curiously.

"I have no idea. They won't tell me. When do you get off work?"

"In, like, five minutes," Carter said and started closing up the Subway booth. He took off his apron and hat and hung them on a hook.

"I'm leaving now," He said and slipped on his hoodie, relieved to see it was not raining today.

"Do you want me to pick you up?" Marshall asked.

"No, it's fine I'll just walk. I'll see you an in hour?"

"Yeah. See you later, call me if you need anything."

"Okay, bye," Carter said, and hung up. His mind immediately went to quiff-boy. He didn't know why he thought he was so cute, and so intriguing, but he just did. Carter thought needed to stop, thinking about Quiff-boy, though. It was keeping him up at night, and whoever Alexander was it wasn't fair to him. He shoved quiff-boy to the back of his mind, and instead started wondering about the surprise Marshall parents were going to give him. Carter felt like a little kid, anticipating Christmas morning. He usually spent his birthday and Christmas with Marshall, and he gave him gifts then, but other than that Carter didn't really do anything. He wondered what the surprise was for, It wasn't his birthday and Christmas was months away.

-

Carter knocked on the door, and it was quickly opened by Marshall's mom.

"Hi Mrs. Chan," he said smiling.

"Hey Carter!" Mrs. Chan greeted him enthusiastically, and opened the door wider for him to come in.

"Marshall's upstairs in his room," Mrs. Chan said. Carter nodded his head okay and went upstairs. Marshall was laying with his back to the bed, with his ear buds and staring up at the ceiling. Carter jumped onto the bed, scaring him. he scrambled to sit up, and when he saw it was him, he relaxed and took out his ear buds.

"Fucking hell, Carter, you scared me," Marshall said, and Carter frowned at his words. He didn't understand cussing, he didn't know why people needed to do it.

"Sorry," Marshall said apologetically.

"I'm so tired, and your bed is so comfortable," Carter said, and buried his head into one of the pillows.

"Your always tired," Marshall laughed, and Carter threw a pillow at him. Marshall picked up the pillow to throw at him, but then his parents came in and he put it down.

"Carter, you know we consider you our own son, and we love just as parents would a son. We want to give you these," Mr. Chan said and handed Carter the envelope. He opened it slowly, and took out to small slips of paper; they were tickets to go see Twenty One Pilots in concert.

"Oh my gosh, thank you so much!" Carter squealed and gave them both hugs.

Carter was going to be able to see Tyler Joseph and Joshua Dun.


	2. The Grim Reaper Is A Chill Dude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i was going to post this tomorrow, but im moving across the country so idk when the next time i will be able to post is. but yeah! pleasepleasepleaseplease comment and leave kudos(:

Alexander took another drink out of the bottle of vodka that he had been drinking for the past twenty minutes. He and Riley had been drinking for the past hour, or more like Alexander had drunk over 5 beers and half a bottle of vodka, and Riley had just finished his first beer. Alexander was laying down on his back with his beloved drink clutched in his arms. He was holding onto it like a life preserver, and that may be just what it was to him.

Alexander started going off on a drunken rant, and Riley was trying not to listen, because sometimes it was just better not to listen to Alexander's rant, but this time, he couldn't keep himself from listening.

"Why do we put so much thoughts into things? Like symbolism; 'using symbols to represent something beyond itself'. Why do things have to represent something more than what they actually are? No, hear me out doves right? They represent peace. Roses, represent beauty and love. Ladders can represent a connection between Heaven and Earth. The Grim Reaper, he represents death. The color black some people associate with evil and all things bad. Why can't doves just be pretty white birds, or roses just be beautiful over priced flowers? Why can't ladders just be a tool used by repair men to get up to high places? And the poor Grim Reaper, everybody associates him with death. Can't he just be a guy who likes to wear big black cloaks, and carry around a scythe? I feel quite sorry for him actually, has anybody actually ever met him to know if he's a bad guy or not? Maybe he's a real nice guy, that's misunderstood.

I also think black is a particularly nice color. I mean, that's all I wear is black clothing, and I'm not evil," Alexander paused and thought for a moment, contemplating over the ordeal of him possibly being considered 'evil'.

"Well, that could be argued.

But as I was saying, things like doves, roses, ladders, the Grim Reaper, the color black, should just be what they are. Doves are doves, roses are roses, ladders are ladders, the Grim Reaper is the Grim Reaper, and the color black is the color black. Nothing more, nothing less.

Maybe if we as people didn't put as much thought into things, we would all be happier. Or maybe we put too much thought into things for a reason. Maybe putting to much thought into things makes us happy. I haven't figured that out yet. But when I do, I'll get back to you.

I bet when people see me, they make assumptions on how I act.

I bet they think, I drink and do drugs, get into a lot of fights, ride a motorcycle, and that I'm rude, I curse, and they don't want their daughters to date me.

Which is partially true, I drink, do drugs, get into fights, I am rude, I do curse. But I don't ride a motorcycle, and I wouldn't date their daughters. Girls are gross. I like dudes.

But when people look at me and think those things, what they don't know, and won't ever find out, is that I am a fucking god at playing guitar, that I appreciate poetry, I'm an awesome cook, and I draw on my hands like a goddamn teenage girl.

So I've made my conclusion, that if we didn't think as much about things, we would all be nicer to each other and happier all together."

"There are several kinds of drunks, my friend. There are the stupid ones, the sluts, funny ones, but you, you're a deep drunk." Riley said and grunted as he sat up.

"Did you even hear anything I just said," Alexander pouted and crossed his arms like a kid who didn't get the cookie he wanted.

"Come on, lets get you up to bed. When you get drunk, you make me really question who I am as a person, and that's complicated. I think it'll be better for both of us if you just went to bed. Let's question who we are as people some other time," Riley said, and hoisted Alexander up from under his arms. He slung his arm around his shoulders and wrapped an arm around his waist and started walking Alexander up the stairs to his room.

Riley let Alexander fall onto the bed and then walked into the bathroom, and came back out with a glass of water and some advil.

"You'll thank me for these in the morning," Riley said and put the water and advil on the nightstand by Alexander's bed. Alexander grumbled an okay and slipped under the covers.

"Goodnight Alex," Riley said and flipped off the lights.

"G'night," Alexander responded.

-

The next morning, Alexander woke up to a massive hangover.

He squinted at the light streaming in through the blinds, and untangled himself from the covers. He felt bile coming up his throat, and he quickly rushed into the bathroom where he proceeded to throw up.

Alexander stumbled back into his room, and grabbed the glass of water off the nightstand, while also knocking a bunch of things over in the process. He swished a little water in his mouth, and then took the advil.

He went back into my room, grabbed his phone, and called Riley.

"Why the hell did you let me drink that much last night?" He groaned when Riley picked up. Riley laughed and rolled his eyes at Alexander's obvious, and massive hangover. Riley really thought that Alexander shouldn't drink as much as he did, but it was no use trying to get his best friend to stop drinking. It was like trying to make trees not need water.

"Why didn't you cut me off?" Alexander groaned again, burying his head into his black pillow.

"You didn't drink that much," Riley teased him. It would be apparent to a stranger who knew nothing about Alexander and his drinking problem, to walk in and realize that he had a fucking ton to drink last night.

"Jesus Christ, I drank a shitload."

"I know. I was going to let you drink even more, but then you started getting all deep and shit."

Alexander sighed. "Was I interesting at least?"

"You sounded like a forty year old hippie who was lit the fuck up," Riley replied, stepping outside to light a cigarette.

"Gee thanks," Alexander said laughing at Riley's comparison

"Hey, I was thinking we could hang out today, Claudia is going out with some friends, and she suggested I did to. But I don't have friends, I have you." Riley said, he didn't mean that in a mean way, he just didn't consider Alexander his friend, he considered him his brother.

"Love you too man," Alexander said sarcastically and rolled his eyes, not getting what Riley meant. "But yeah, sure. Do you want to come over here, or me go over there?" Alexander asked, even though he knew answer. Riley always came to his house.

"I'll come to your house. I'll be there in ten minutes."

"Okay. See you." Alexander said and hung up.

Alexander took a fast shower, then put on a black t-shirt and black jeans. He kicked his dirty clothes into a corner, making a mental note to pick them up later, and made his bed.

"I'm here!" Riley shouted from downstairs. Riley had his own key, so most of the time he showed up without warning, or sometimes Alexander would come home and he would be sitting on the couch. It was fine though, Alexander didn't mind, Riley was his only friend.

Actually he was more like his brother, Riley's parents had died in a house fire seven years ago, when he was sixteen. Alexander and Riley had bonded over the absence of their parents, even though only one of Alexander's was dead, his dad was pretty much dead to him by that time anyway, having abused Alexander since he was eleven.

Alexander went down the stairs to see Riley rummaging through his cabinets, probably in search of something to eat.

"Do you have any cereal?" He asked.

"Just Lucky Charms I think." Alexander said, lighting a cigarette. He smoked in his house, but it didn't matter because he was the only one who lived there and even though Riley was over most of the time, he didn't mind.

"Where?" Riley asked, still looking for the Lucky Charms

"Uhhh...," Alexander said and rubbed his head, trying to remember where the cereal was.

"The fridge maybe?" Alexander said. Riley raised one eyebrow at him and crossed the kitchen to the fridge. He opened it, and grabbed something; the Lucky Charms.

"Really Alex? The fridge?" Riley asked laughing.

"Shut up. Be happy I even have food, I haven't gone regular grocery shopping in ages. In fact, you might want to check the expiration date to make sure they haven't expired." He flipped the box over and examined it.

"January twenty fifth," he said reading the expiration date. "What's the date today?" Riley asked and pulled out his phone and clicked it on, answering his own question because he knew that Alexander didn't keep track of the day, he didn't need to.

"It's the twenty sixth. Good enough," he said and shrugged his shoulders, turning around and grabbing a bowl out of the cabinet. He poured in some Lucky Charms and milk.

"Lucky Charms; the unhealthiest of all the cereals," Riley said chuckling.

"It's the best though." Alexander said with certainty.

"Of course it is. It's extremely unhealthy, so of course it's good." Alexander and Riley walked into the living room, and sat down on the couch.

"So how's Claudia? I didn't get the chance to ask you last night, considering I was really drunk." Alexander asked.

"She's good. Happy that she's finishing school in two months." Riley said and pushed an empty beer bottle off the couch so he could sit on it.

"Two months? I thought she was graduating in May with the rest of her class."

"Her professors are saying she's doing well enough to graduate early."

"That's great! Is she still going to be an archeologist?" Alexander replied, happy for his best friend and his soulmate.

"Yeah. She, uh, actually got a job opportunity," Riley said and scratched the back of his head.

"That's great Riley! Is she going to take it?"

"Here's the thing, it's in Egypt. For six months. We would have to move there temporarily," Riley said, and looked at Alexander, waiting for his reaction.

"Oh." Alexander said, and felt the familiar feeling of depression wash over him. He grabbed his car keys off the coffee table and started walking toward the door.

"Alex! Wait!" Riley called after his best friend, desperately wanting him to come back so he could make things better.

"Just leave me alone for a couple hours, okay?" Alexander said and opened the front door.

"You can't run away from your problems, Alex." Riley said, trying to convince him to come back and not to go drink, because that's where he was going for sure. He knew that's where Alexander always did when things went wrong. Always.

"No, but I can run away from you, and that seems to be working just fine," Alexander said and slammed the door shut and jogged to his car. He quickly got in and sped down the street.

He headed to a bar, planning to drink away his problems, despite the fact he was still majorly hung over, but that was okay, or at least it would be, once he started drinking.

Alexander wondered if he qualified as an alcoholic; he drank everyday, and drinking was his coping mechanism. Part of him was scared that he was turning into a version of his father, but he knew that in some ways he would never be like his father. He would never hit or yell at his kids. Never. To be treated like shit by your own parent, fucking sucked, and Alexander sadly knew that better than anybody.

He would worry about the possibility of possibly being an alcoholic later; right now, it was time to drink.

-

Carter doesn't drink, doesn't smoke, and doesn't do drugs, but yet he loved going to bars. He found them relaxing. But also at the same time, he found it rather depressing; watching soulmates drink, laugh and smile together. They looked so happy, and Carter certainly was not happy.

For some reason, lately, he had a hollow feeling in his chest. He knew it was because of his soulmate, but it had never been this bad before. Everybody always feels like they had a piece missing from them, it was part of finding your soulmate. But it wasn't supposed to be this bad.

To long for somebody so much, to feel like you're not even a complete person, just half of a person, was not something Carter enjoyed.

He sighed and got up from the barstool, grabbing his beanie he had laid down on the counter. He was heading to the bathroom to call Marshall to come and pick him up, when he tripped over something. He yelped and banged his knee against the hard wood floor.

"Ow," Carter whimpered and clutched his knee against his chest. He looked to see what he had tripped over, and it turned out the the 'something' was actually a 'somebody'. Quiff-boy to be exact.

"Uhhhh," Quiff-boy moaned, and jerked the bottle of alcohol in his hand, spilling some over himself.

"Hey," Carter murmured, only a little entranced at the lovely man in front of him. Quiff-boy turned his head swiftly to look at Carter.

"Hiiii," he said, and a big goofy grin spread across his face.

"Hi, um, wait here, okay?" Carter said and got up, walking to the bathroom. He was going to ask Marshall if he could take home Quiff-boy too, if he could find out where he lived, he couldn't just leave him here like this. Especially because of how annoyingly fond of Quiff-boy he was.

"Stay, please?" Quiff-boy said in a kid-like voice. He grabbed onto Carter's hand. Holding onto him like he did alcohol, with an intention of never letting go.

"I'll be right back. I promise," Carer said and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. Quiff-boy slowly, but reluctantly, let go of Carter's hand and nodded his head.

Carter walked into the bathroom, took out his phone, and called Marshall.

"Hello?" Marshall said groggily, only a little aggravated that his best friend had woken him up from his already two hour long nap.

"Hey. Did I wake you up? Sorry." Carter said, feeling guilty that he had woken up Marshall.

"It's fine. Do you want me to pick you up?" Marshall asked.

"Yeah, and do you remember the guy I told you about from the mall?" Carter said hopefully.

"Quiff-boy? Yeah, I remember him."

Carter blushed at the nick name, he hadn't meant to let it slip out to Marshall, but he did anyway. "I found him passed out. Can we take him home?"

"If you can find out where he lives, sure." Marshall said.

"Okay. I'll meet you out front."

"Okay, see you."

"Bye," Carter said and hung up.

He walked back out to the bar, and saw Quiff-boy sitting in the same spot.

"Hey. Is it okay if I take you home?" Carter asked Quiff-boy.

Quiff-boy nodded, but he was shocked that this boy was offering to take him home, considering he had accidentally tripped him.

"Can you tell me where you live?" Carter asked, not noticing that he had started holding Quiff-boy's hand.

But Quiff-boy noticed. And he gripped tightly onto the soft hand of this stranger. He never wanted to let go of his hand, it gave him sense of comfort, and for once, he didn't feel lonely with this hand in his.

Quiff-boy began to rack his brain, trying to desperately remember where he lived, it was hard, with the alcohol messing with his head, but then he remembered, and told Carter.

Carter nodded and tried his best to try and pull Quiff-boy up to his feet, which was an unreasonable thing to try and do, considering Carter was extremely smaller than Quiff-boy, but Quiff-boy soon realized that he needed to try and stand up for himself, and he did. Carter's phone beeped; it was a message from Marshall saying that he was here.

Carter wrapped his arm around Quiff-boy's waist to try and keep him steady, instead of around his shoulders, because Carter would have to stand on his toes to do that, and quite frankly would look ridiculous walking like that.

Marshall arrived at the bar, and he had suspicions Carter might need help getting Quiff-boy out of the bar, and when he walked in the bar and saw Carter desperately trying to walk Quiff-boy out of the bar, without Quiff-boy falling on him and crushing him, his suspicions were confirmed.

He quickly rushed over to Carter and Quiff-boy, and he took Quiff-boy from Carter who sighed in relief and started massaging his shoulders.

"Thanks," Carter asked. Marshall grunted in response not realizing how big Quiff-boy really was.

Carter helped lead Marshall out of the bar because Marshall's attention was focused entirely on trying to get Quiff-boy out of the bar and into his car.

When they got to Marshall's car, Carter opened the door, and Marshall shoved Quiff-boy into the backseat and closed the door. Carter glared at his best friend because of the roughness he had used with him, but Marshall either didn't notice or didn't care, and got into the drivers side of the car.

Carter surprised Marshall when he sat in the back seat, Carter always sat in the front because he car sick when he sat in the back.

Carter noticed that Quiff-boy had passed out already again, and he took Quiff-boy's head and rested it on his lap. Carter gave Marshall Quiff-boy's address and Marshall started driving there.

Carter noticed that the black band on Quiff-boy's wrist had slid down, revealing some of the name on his wrist, but disappointingly not enough for Carter to make out the name. Carter tentatively reached out his hand, and lightly gripped the soft leather of the band, and slowly started to pull it down.

"Carter, we're here," Marshall said and  
Carter hastily yanked his hand back.

"Wake up," Carter murmured and gently shook Quiff-boy awake. Quiff-boy grunted and unconsciously buried his head in Carter's lap.

"Come on, we're at your house," Carter said, ignoring the part of him that just wanted to cuddle with Quiff-boy instead of taking him home. Quiff-boy sighed in defeat and somehow, despite how massively drunk he was, got out of the car. Carter rushed out of the car, and to Quiff-boy's side, because he was afraid Quiff-boy would somehow hurt himself and Carter most definitely did not what that to happen, even if he wouldn't admit it.

Carter helped Quiff-boy to the porch of his house, and then realized he had no way of getting in.

"Just knock on the door," Alexander slurred, Carter was shocked he understood what was happening, but he knocked on the door anyway.

The door opened quickly, to reveal a man about the same size as Alexander, with dark brown hair. He also had his shirt off, which made Carter blush, his cheeks going from pale, to a slight pink color.

"Oh my God, thank you for bringing him home," the man rushed out, taking Alexander's weight off of a relieved Carter.

"Uh, come in," the man said, not exactly sure what to do. He recognized the lavender haired boy from the bar, the one that Alexander was so intrigued with. He knew then that this boy, was Alexander's soulmate, but he couldn't interfere, that's not how it worked, even though he would just love to tell Alexander that the boy that he liked so much, and cared about so much, was his soulmate.

Carter nodded awkwardly, stepping into the house. It smelled strongly of cigarette smoke and alcohol, and he was trying awfully hard not to start coughing a ton.

Carter wasn't going to deny that this man intimidated him, he reminded Carter of the guys at school who used go bully him. He hated putting this man into the same category of his bullies, because honestly he seemed like a really nice guy, but Carter couldn't help it.

The man laid down a passed out Alexander on the couch.

"I'm going to go upstairs to get him a blanket," the man said.

"Okay," Carter replied, considering leaving when this man went upstairs, but then decided against it, because that would be horribly rude. The man started going up the stairs, then stopped.

"My name is Riley, by the way," he said, and continued going up the stairs.

Carter realized another thing; the size difference between him and Riley was huge. Carter wasn't just short, he was really tiny; tiny hands, tiny wrists, thin legs, tiny feet, tiny waist, and also, skinny.

Carter sighed, and looked Quiff-boy, who was deep in sleep. He found that his legs were taking him over to the couch where he was sleeping.

Carter studied Quiff-boy; his mouth was parted slightly, and his hair was unruly. There was a loose strand of hair splayed across his forehead. Carter tried pushing it back, but it just fell right back down.  
Then, Carter did something he may or may not regret later, he leaned down, and placed a soft, gentle kiss to Quiff-boy's forehead.

He heard Riley coming down the stairs, and he darted away from Quiff-boy, and tried to look inconspicuous as possible.

Riley put the blanket over Quiff-boy, and then turned to face Carter.

"You can stay for a little while if you want," Riley said, and sounded, maybe, just maybe, hopeful.

Riley was in fact hopeful, hopeful that this boy with lavender hair, would realize that he was his best friends soulmate.

"No thanks, my friend is waiting outside," Carter said and left, and Riley's hope was diminished.

-

"Nobody should have to wake up for school before the sun rises," Carter grumbled to himself as he hit the mute button on his alarm clock. He slowly got out of bed and trudged to the shower. Carter had been blowing off going to his classes at college to work at Subway, because he needed more money, after spending a lot of money on vans, but he promised himself, that starting today, he would go back to his usual schedule of going to all his classes in the morning, and working in the afternoon and evening.

Carter hopped out of the shower and put on some black skinny jeans, a navy blue baggy sweater, and grey vans. He waited for his hair to dry, then styled it quickly, ate some breakfast, and grabbed his book bag and bolted out of his apartment.

Carter started to sprint down the street, he had taken longer than he expected to get to get ready. His classes were going to start in fifteen minutes.

He rushed into the university, sweaty and out of breath. He quickly put his bag into his locker, and grabbed his stuff for his first class. Carter made it into his first class with two minutes to spare, and took his usual seat in the back corner.

-

School went by as normal for Carter; boring lectures and taking tons of notes.

He left his final class, and Carter was rounding a corner, when somebody else crashed into him. He dropped his stuff, which scattered everywhere, and fell on his bum. He groaned and winced as he got up to get his stuff, that multiple people had stepped on by now.

Clara Melanie, or as she preferred Mel, witnessed Carter being knocked into, and went over to help him. He seemed very familiar, but she couldn't place where she knew him from, or even if she knew him at all. She thought it would be easy to remember a very small guy, with lavender hair, but maybe not.

She stared helping him gather up his stuff, and Carter didn't notice at first.

"Uh, thanks," Carter mumbled to Mel once he noticed her."No problem," she replied, stood up, and held out a hand to help him stand up. He grabbed onto her hand, and got off the ground.

"I'm Clara but call me Mel."

"Mel?" Carter said, not understanding where that name came from.

"My middle name is Melanie," she said and smiled.

Carter nodded his head and returned the smile. "I'm Carter."

Carter - Mel was sure he knew that name from somewhere, it was at the tip of her tongue, but she couldn't place it and that aggravated the hell out of her.

"You're in some of my classes, right?" Mel asked Carter

Carter returned her question with a blank stare. He felt bad that he couldn't remember whether or not she was in his classes, but Carter didn't particularly like school, much less the people in it - even in college. Carter had thought that once you got out of high school that magically all the jerks would stop being jerks, but he was tragically wrong.  
Thankfully, though, Mel was not offended by Carter, and just smiled at him.

"Yeah, you are in my classes," Mel said, remembering for herself.

"Do you want to come over to my house to study for that exam tomorrow?" Mel offered. To say that Carter was shocked would be an understatement, people weren't usually this nice to him let alone invite him to their house after only meeting them a couple minutes ago. Carter wasn't opposed to it though, Mel seemed really nice.

"Sure." Carter said and smiled. Mel reminded him of somebody, but he couldn't place it.

The black hair and green eyes seemed all too familiar.


	3. Chapter 3

Carter was walking with Mel to her house, which he learned was only a five minute drive, and a fifteen minute walk, give or take a few minutes. They walked by a house, and Carter recognized it as the house he had taken Quiff-boy to only a few days earlier

"Do you know who lives there?" Carter asked Mel, trying, but probably failing at not coming off as creepy.

Mel raised her eyes from her phone and glanced at the house before answering him.

"My brother lives there. Why?" Mel asked skeptically, and now more than ever she felt like she knew this guy from somewhere.

"I was just wondering," Carter said, shrugged his shoulders and looked down at the sidewalk.

"Wait if he's your brother, why doesn't he live with you?" Carter asked, not knowing that this was a question that she had been desperately trying to avoid. Mel tried to avoid all questioning about her family, it was a sore subject to say the least.

"He's twenty three, and just wanted to move out," Mel said, and for the first time didn't meet Carter's eyes while talking to him, which was how Carter knew that she was lying, but he decided not to press the subject any further. Carter and Mel continued walking, but they weren't talking anymore. Carter didn't know what to say, and Mel was worrying over what she would say if Carter decided to ask more about her family.

They got to Mel's house, and Mel got out her keys, unlocked the door and opened it for Carter and herself to walk in.

Carter's eyes widened as he stepped inside Mel's house; it was huge, especially compared to Carter's tiny apartment.

"Wow," Carter murmured, "this place is humongous."

Mel sighed. "Yeah, it is. My dad for some reason felt the need to get this place built, despite the fact that it was only my mom, my dad, my brother, and me."

"Where are your parents?" Carter couldn't help but wonder.

"My dad is probably at work, and my mom, she, uh, died awhile ago," Mel mumbled and lied about her dad, she knew he was out drinking, but she didn't want to tell Carter that. She looked down at the ground. No matter how many years passed by, she never really could come to terms with her moms death. Every time she thought about it, it brung tears to her eyes, and she wanted to crawl into a ball and cry until she couldn't anymore. She couln't help but think that maybe it wasn't all her mom's death, because that was no doubt a huge part of it, but maybe it was also all the things that came along with her mom's death; her dad starting to drink, Alexander and him getting into fights, Alexander getting into physical fights at school and becoming really depressed, and worst of all, her father hitting Alexander. He beat up Alexander up so bad sometimes that he sometimes couldn't go to school for a few days.

Carter wanted to slap himself in the face. He couldn't believe that he asked that, now Mel was visibly upset, and it wasn't even any of Carter's buisness anyway.

"I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have asked that."

"It's fine. Don't worry about it." Mel said. She wasn't mad at Carter, there was no way he could've known that her mom was dead. She just wished her family could go back to the way it was, her mom greeting her and Alexander when they got home from school with hugs, and cookies, their dad not touching any alcohol whatsoever, and Alexander being happy. That's what she wanted even if they're mom couldn't come back, and their dad still drank, she just wanted Alexander to be happy. He deserved it.

"Come on, lets go up to my room and study." Mel said, and Carter nodded silently, and followed her up the stairs to her room.

-

Carter and Mel heard a car door slam, and Mel cringed, and whipped her head around to look at her clock.

"Shit. He wasn't supposed to be home for a couple more hours." Mel said worringly. They heard the front door slam closed, and somebody stomp up the stairs.

"Don't say anything and try to look as inconspicuous as possible," Mel said and grabbed her phone off her nightstand.

"Mel what's going on?" Carter whispered fiercely and worriedly.

"Just shush. I'll explain later." As soon as she finished talking, her dad swung open her bedroom door, and her dad stumbled in drunkingly, the pungent smell of booze and cigarette smoke coming along with him.

"Hey dad," Mel said and smiled nervously at her dad.

"Why is he here," Mel's dad said with disgust. Carter didn't understand; he had never met this man before and he was 99.9% sure this mand didn't know who he was either.

"Him?" Mel asked and pointed to Carter.

"Yes him. You know I hate him, and I thought he knew that by now also."

"Dad, this isn't Alexander," Mel said, feeling guilty that she knew that her dad was talking about his son and her brother.

"How can you lie to me when he's sitting right here?!" Mel's dad exclaimed.

"This is my son." He said with so much hatred and venom that Carter cringed. His heart sped up though, at the mention of his soulmates name. He brushed off the thought that this Alexander was his Alexander, it was a foolish thought. He wasn't that lucky.

Mel's dad threw the empty beer bottle at the wall, and Carter moved fast enought that when it shattered, it didn't hit him. He lunged for Carter, and Carter didn't know anywhere else to run except for down the stairs. Mel called up Alexander, because she didn't know what else to do.

"Hello?" Alexander said, and snuffed out his cigarette by stamping it into the damp grass.

"Alexander?" Mel said shakily.

"Mel? What's wrong?" Alexander said and immediately got his car keys and hopped into his car.

"I have a friend at my house, and he's a guy, and dad came home wasted and he thinks it's you and he's trying to hurt him," Mel said and started to cry. "Jesus Alex, he's so small and there's no way he can defend himself against dad."

"I'm on my way. I'm driving there as fast as I can." Alexander said and hung up, driving even faster, surely breaking the speed limit.

Mel shrieked as her dad tried to tackle Carter, Carter dived out of the way, and banged his knee against the corner of the coffee table.

Carter crumpled to the ground and gripped his knee tightly, his face contorting with pain, and he groaned.

"Carter move!" Mel screamed as her dad went to tackle Carter again, and Carter just barely made it out of the way before her dad crashed onto the ground. He laid there for a moment, which gave Carter time to make his way across the room.

Mel's dad got up and walked across the room. Carter gave up, his instincts taking over from highschool, that it was better to surrender then to fight back, and he laced his hands behind his head, at least trying to protect that.

"Carter, get out of the way!" Mel screamed at the top of her lungs as her dad pinned Carter down onto the floor, with his hands above his head, and sitting on his legs.

"I can't!" Carter screamed back.

Alexander burst through the door, and he realized that this guy that Mel was talking about, wasn't just any guy, it was the beautiful boy. Alexander felt rage flow through him, and an overwhelming need to protect this boy from the man he called his father.

Alexander's dad punched the beautiful boy twice hard on the side of his face, and then jabbed his elbow into his stomach, but before he could land another blow to the defenseless guy underneath him, Alexander had tackled his dad.

"Get off me!" His dad roared, and Alexander raised his fist to punch his father, but then he glanced at the beautiful boy and noticed how scared he was. He was even shaking with fear. So instead Alexander yanked his dad roughly to his feet, and shoved toward the door.

"Leave!" Alexander said menacingly, fed up with his dad's shit.

"You can't kick me out of my own house!" Alexander's dad yelled.

"I said get the fuck out! Leave or I'll call the police!" Alexander screamed, and his dad reluctantly left.

Alexander found his feet leading him toward the beautiful boy, who was still lying on the floor. He gently straddled him, and took his face in his hands. He ran his finger gingerly over his cheek.

"Carter?" Alexander asked quietly, his heart rate speeding up.

"Alexander?" Carter asked hopefully. Alexander nodded, and a grin spread onto his face.

Carter let out a strangled whine, as he tried to push Alexander off of him. Alexander was confused for a moment, before Carter wrapped his arms tightly around Alexander and buried his head in his chest. Alexander wrapped his arms Carter in response and sighed contently and happily.

This is what Alexander needed. He needed this boy, and Carter needed him. Carter no longer felt like he was half of a person, he felt complete.

"Hey," Alexander murmured and gently pushed Carter away from him.

"Let's clean up your cheek, okay?" Alexander said. Carter nodded, and let Alexander lead him into the kitchen.

Alexander got a paper towel wet, and put one hand on Carter's non-injured cheek, leading his head to look at him. He started to rub lightly at the big cut across his cheek, and Carter whimpered, and tried to turn his head away, but Alexander didn't let him.

"I have to clean this up, or it'll just get worse. I'm sorry I have to hurt you," Alexander said, and lightly brushed his lips across Carter's forehead.

Carter let Alexander clean up his cheek, and then he gave Carter an ice pack to help with the swelling.

"Fuck," Alexander cursed all of a sudden. He threw away the paper towel, and rinsed his hands off.

"Oh fuck I forgot about Mel," Alexander said and bolted out of the kitchen to see Mel sitting on the edge of the stairs.

"I'm so sorry for forgetting about you, I just got caught up with Carter," Alexander said hurriedly, hoping his sister wasn't mad.

"Don't worry about it, you found your soulmate I understand, now stop worrying about me and go to Carter," Mel said.

"You're okay right? I don't want you staying here tonight."

"I'm fine. I've already called Caitlyn to pick me up. Now go to Carter," Mel said and gave Alexander a playful shove.

Alexander rolled his eyes, and walked back to the kitchen.

Carter was sitting on the counter, his thumbs hovering over the keyboard on his phone, trying to decide if he should text Marshall or not.

"Hey, do you want some Advil or something for the pain?" Alexander asked, slightly worried about the small boy. Carter clicked off his phone and put it in his pocket

Carter shook his head, "No, I think it looks worse thank it actually is," Carter says truthfully.

"Are you sure?" Alexander asked, not wanting Carter to suffer from the pain.

"I'm positive," Carter said and gave Alex a reassuring smile.

"I was going to ask you if you wanted to go do something together, but if you would rather would do it some other time I would completely understand," Alexander said.

"I would love to," Carter says, smiling shyly and blushing. "Could I borrow a sweatshirt or something, though? My shirt has blood all over it."

"Sure." Alexander said, secretly liking the idea of the beautiful boy wearing one of his sweatshirts.

"I think I still have some clothes up in my room, from when I used to live here. I'll go get one, I'll be right back," Alexander said, he hesitated before walking over and kissing Carter on the forehead. Carter blushed, again, and smiled to himself.

After Alexander left the kitchen, Carter pulled his phone back out and decided to call Marshall, instead of texting him. He clicked on Marshall's name, and then put the phone up to his ear.

"Hello?" Marshall said.

"Hey, I won't be over at your house till later tonight," Carter said. Alexander walked into the kitchen and opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it when he saw Carter was on the phone. "I, uh, met my soulmate," Carter said and smiled shyly over at Alexander.

"Really!?!" Marshall yelled so loudly Carter had to hold the phone away from his ear.

"Yeah, so were going to go out somewhere. I'll text you when I'm on my way to your house."

"Have fun," Marshall said teasingly, and Carter laughed and rolled his eyes.

"See you later," Carter said and hung up.

"Sorry, I had to call my friend Marshall and tell him I wouldn't be over at his house till later," Carter apologized.

"It's fine. Here," he said and handed Carter the sweatshirt. He slid it over his sweater, and realized that it was huge; it went down to his knees, and the sleeves enveloped his hands.

"Here," Alexander said and rolled the sleeves up for him.

"Thanks," Carter replied and shoved his hands into the pockets of the sweatshirt.

Alexander took Carter's hand, and led him to the car, and opened the car door for him.

"So where are we going?" Carter asked Alexander, once he got in the car.

"An old sandwich shop about ten minutes away. My aunt works there, she's my dad's sister. She always gives me free coffee when I come by. If that's okay with you?" Alexander asked, taking Carter's hand tentatively, and giving it a quick squeeze.

"That's fine," Carter said and squeezed Alexander's hand back.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alexader led Carter into the sandwich shop, hand in hand.

As soon as Alexander's aunt saw him, she immediately rushed over to give him a hug.

"Alex!" She exclaimed happily and smiled at him.

"Hey," he said and returned her smile.

"You haven't come to see me in ages," she scolded playfully.

"I know, sorry. I promise I'll start coming more," he said. Alexander loved his aunt. Sometimes he couldn't believe that she was related to his dad, she was the complete opposite of him. She was the first one to figure out that his dad was abusing him, besides Mel, and she begged him to let her call the police, and for him to come live with her, but Alexander hadn't let her. He had promised though, that he would move out as soon as he was eighteen.

"You better. Make sure you also tell Riley he needs to come see me sometime soon." She also really like his best friend, Riley, and Alexander appreciated it so much since Riley didn't have any family and she was like a mom to him.

"I will," he responded, and laced his fingers with Carter's.

"Who's this?" She asked, taking in their hands.

"This is Carter, my soulmate," Alexander said, with a small grin on his face.

"Oh my God! It's so nice to meet you, I'm Alex's aunt, Trisha." She said and gave Carter a small hug.

"Nice to meet you too," Carter said and hugged her back.

Trisha pulled out of the hug, and noticed Carter's cheek.

"What happened?" She asked.

"Uh.....," Carter trailed off, his eyes flicking over to Alexander, not sure what to say.

"My dad. He was over studying at the house with Mel, and he came home really drunk and mistook him for me," Alexander responded for him.

"Jesus Christ," Trisha said, shaking her head.

"I"m fine, really," Carter said, trying to reassure everybody. Trisha shook her head.

"Anyway, you guys are staying for a little while right?" She asked.

"Yeah, do you mind? I know the shop closes in a little while."

"Of course I don't mind, I'll make you guys some coffee," Trisha said, and walked back to the kitchen. Alexander and Carter sat down at a small booth.

"Sorry about my dad, by the way, he just..... uh-."

"You don't have to explain right now, if you don't want to," Carter interrupted.

"Thanks," Alexander said, thankful that Carter wasn't making him talk about his fucked up family life.

"I'm not keeping you from anything tonight, am I?" Alexander asked, paranoid that he was going to fuck up, and Carter would leave him.

"I had work, but that's really it. It's no big deal though, I didn't want to go anyway," Carter reassured.

"Subway, right?" Alexander asked, even though he knew the answer, he just wanted to keep a conversation going.

"Yeah. I'm working for a degree in teaching, though."

Just then, Trisha sat down two coffee's in front of them.

"Here you go," she said. Carter and Alexander thanked her and she walked back to the kitchen. Carter was really cold, actually he was always cold, no matter what, so he quickly grabbed the hot coffee, wrapped his hands around the mug, and took a big sip. He put down the mug, and wrapped his arms around himself, trying to warm up.

"You cold?" Alexander asked. Carter nodded his head. Alexander slid out of his seat and next to Carter.

"Do you care if I...?" He asked reaching his arm out to put it around Carter.

"No," Carter replied, and couldn't help but snuggle into Alexander's side. They just sat like that for awhile. Pressed up against each other, thoroughly enjoying every waking moment with each other.

Carter slowly drifted off to sleep, the lack of sleep finally catching up to him.

Alexander studied the sleeping boy; he looked so peaceful, Alexander couldn't bring himself to wake Carter up, so he gently and carefully picked him up, and carried him out the door of the sandwich shop, waving goodbye to his aunt also.

When he got home, Alexander set Carter gently down on the couch, kissed him lightly on his temple, and went up the stairs to bed.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Carter woke up the next morning to a loud noise in the kitchen.

"You idiot! You're going to wake up Carter!" He heard Alexander exclaim.

"Sorry! Jesus Christ, all I did was open the cabinet to get the fucking lucky charms! Why do you have empty beer bottles in the cabinet anyway?" He heard another voice say.

Carter got up off the couch, and shuffled into the kitchen, the sweatshirt sleeves had come unrolled and Carter tried, but failed to push them up so he just let them hang down.

"Alexander? Everything okay?" Carter asked groggily.

"Yeah. Sorry for waking you up, Riley spilled a bunch of shit," Alexander said, sending a glare in Riley's direction.

"Who the fuck keeps empty beer bottles in a cabinet?! Why don't you just simply throw them away? You know what, actually I'll tell you where you can put it-," Riley said interrupted by Carter's phone ringing.

"Sorry," Carter mumbled, grabbing his phone from his jeans pocket. He didn't have to look at the caller I.D he knew it was Marshall- Marshall was the only person whoever called him. He stepped out of the kitchen and answered the phone.

"Hello?" Carter said.

"Hello?!? That's all you have to say to me? Do you know how worried I was last night? I was so worried about you Carter, I don't know what I'd do without you. I thought your soulmate had turned out to be serial killer or something," Marshall said, part angry and part worried.

"I'm really sorry. I accidentally fell asleep on my date, so he took me over to his house." Carter said.

"Hey, Carter can you stay for breakfast? I'm making pancakes," Alexander asked Carter quietly. Carter nodded his head yes.

"You fell asleep on your date?" Marshall said chuckling, no longer angry. It was practically impossible to stay mad at Carter.

"Yeah. I barely slept this week. My insomnia is getting pretty bad."

"Carter, my parents offered to pay-."

"I already told you, I can't take money from you guys," Carter said interupting Marshall.

"Your not taking money. Your taking medication that you need, so you can actually sleep," Marshall sighed.

"I'm going to stay at his house for breakfast, then I'll come over," Carter said, avoiding the subject.

"Okay. Text me when you're on your way. Bye," Marshall said, rolling his eyes at Carter's obvious attempt at avoiding the subject.

"Bye," Carter said and hung up. He walked back to kitchen to see Alexander putting some pancakes on a plate.

"Sorry, that was Marshall, I didn't text him last night and he freaked out," Carter explained.

"Oh, sorry. I forgot you were supposed to text him. Here's some pancakes by the way," He said handing a plate to Carter.

"Thanks," Carter replied and sat down at the table. Alexander took a seat next to him, and the other guy, Riley, sitting across from them.

Carter accidentally let out out a quiet moan as he took a bite of the pancakes, and Alexander whipped his around to look at Carter.

"Oh God, sorry. I'm terrible at cooking, and I live by myself so I haven't had a meal like this in ages. It just tasted really good," Carter said, blushing bright red. He couldn't believe he did that.

"It's fine, you could always come over here for meals, if you want. I don't work or go to school, so I'm always at home," Alexander said, trying to reassure Carter. He realized that Carter apologized a lot, even though he didn't need to.

"Thanks, but I'm up for school at six thirty, eat lunch in the cafeteria at the college, and then straight after school I have to go to work till seven," Carter explained.

"Don't you get really tired?" Alexander asked, worried about the small boy's health.

"Yeah, but it's fine," Carter said, leaving out the part about his insomnia, and how he barely gets a hour of sleep each night.

"Do you want me to the dishes?" Carter offered, finishing his pancakes.

"No thanks, I'll do them," Alexander said.

Riley snorted. "No he won't."

"Shut up!" Alexander yelled at his best friend and tossed a fork at him.

"I'm just telling the truth," Riley teased. Alexander rolled his eyes and laughed.

"Hey, Alexander do you mind driving me to Marshall's?" Carter asked.

"Of course not. Come on," Alexander said, and grabbed Carter's hand leading him out the front door and to the car.

Carter gave Alexander directions to Marshall's house, and Alexander drove him there.

"Here's my number," Alexander said, scribbling it down onto a scrap piece of paper

"Okay, thanks for everything," Carter said, taking the piece of paper and shoving it into his pocket.

Carter leaned over to give Alexander a hug, but Alexander gripped his waist, pulled him onto his lap, and hugged him tightly.

"I'm really glad I found you," Carter said in a small voice.

"Me too," Alexander said simply, but it filled Carter with a sense of warmth that Carter had never felt before. It made Carter feel wanted.

"See you later," Carter said, pulling out of the hug and crawling off Alexander's lap.

"See you," Alexander replied.

Carter approached the door step, and prepared himself for a pissed off Marshall. He cautiously lifted his hand, and knocked.


	4. Chapter 4

"Stupid work," Carter grumbled to himself as he grabbed his hat and apron off the hook. Carter was exaughsted, he literally didn't sleep at all last night. All he wanted to do, was walk straight to Alexander's house and curl up with him on the couch and sleep. It's been almost two weeks since Carter and Alexander met, and they had spent everyday together. Carter has been the happiest he has been in a very long time, and that was all thanks to his wonderful soulmate, Alexander.

Alexander has been the perfect boyfriend to say the least, waking up at six thirty every morning Carter had school, which was everyday except for Friday and the weekends, and making sure he got a good breakfast. At lunch, Alexander would drive over to Carter's college and they would eat together in Alexander's car. And for dinner, Alexander, Carter and sometimes Riley would come to Alexander's house and they would either order something to eat or Alexander would make something.

It seemed like a dream to Carter, being this happy. It was weird to Carter to be around somebody this much besides Marshall, and sometimes Carter felt uncomfortable because he wasn't used to more than Marshall actually caring about him, and Alexander wanting to be involved in his life and wanting to get to know him as a person. But Alexander didn't push him to talk. If Alexander asked a question, and he realized Carter didn't want to answer, he would change the subject and Carter was extremely thankful for that. Carter wouldn't trade any of this for anything, though.

As for Alexander, he didn't feel as lonely anymore. I mean sure on nights Riley was out with Claudia, and Carter with Marshall, he felt lonely again so he drank and drank, but then the morning was all good again when Carter came over. Alexander wanted to know more about the beautiful boy, but he didn't seem to want to talk about himself, which of course Alexander respected he just wish Carter would trust him and be comfortable with him. To be fair though, Alexander didn't talk much about himself either. He still hadn't explained to Carter about his dad. But one thing that bugged Alexander, is that it had been two weeks, and they still hadn't their first kiss. I mean sure they kissed each other on the cheeks, and when Carter hugged Alexander, Alexander would kiss him on the top of the head, but other than that, they hadn't kissed at all. He wanted to kiss his soulmate.

***

Alexander and Carter were sitting on Alexander's couch, cuddling with each other, and sharing funny high school stories. Carter, of course, not talking about the bullying, not wanting to ruin the moment.

"I passed out when we were supposed to dissect frogs," Carter said, playing with Alexander fingers. Alexander noticed he did that a lot, but he didn't mind.

Alexander chuckled in response. "I'm not surprised."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Carter asked laughing.

"I could never imagine you hurting anybody, or anything," Alexander responded, smiling fondly at the lavender-haired boy. Carter scoffed in reply.

"Stop being such a sap."

"Never," Alexander said, kissing Carter on the head. Alexander covered Carter's hand with his own which completely covered Carter's.

"Your hands are so tiny," Alexander said, "you're tiny in general." It just kind of slipped out, Alexander didn't plan to say that, but he couldn't take it back now.

"Am not," Carter murmured not-so-convincingly. Carter actually particularly like Alexander falling him tiny, but he wouldn't admit it.

"Are too," Alexander countered. Carter giggled, blushing.

"So tiny and so cute," Alexander whispered into Carter's ear.

"Stop that," replied Carter, straddling Alexander's lap. Alexander cupped his face with his large hands.

Surprisingly to the couple, Carter leaned in to kiss Alexander.

It seemed to happen in slow motion to the both of them; as their lips touched Alexander groaned as Carter ground his hips down (whether it was accidental or not was a mystery to both) and Carter ran his hands up his chest, pleasantly surprised to feel muscles under his touch. He pulled at the hem of Alexander's shirt, signaling that he wanted it off. Their lips disconnected for a brief moment, just enough for the shirt to come off, and then they collided together once again, Alexander falling on top of Carter.

Alexander's thumbs played at the edge of Carter's shirt this time, tracing over his tummy. Carter moaned at this, and Alexander took this as an okay for Carter's shirt to come off, but when he started to pull it off, Carter stopped him.

"I hate my stomach," Carter mumbled, his cheeks flushed and his eyes wide.

This made Alexander immensely upset; he didn't want the boy to ever feel bad about himself. He was beautiful. "Don't say that love," Alexander said moving down to raise his shirt tentatively over his tummy. He laid his hands on Carter's stomach, and kissed all around, even leaving a few love bites.

"I love your tummy so much, it’s just as beautiful as the rest of you,” Alexander said, smiling a little bit when Carter took off his shirt.

Alexander kissed his way up Carter’s tummy and up his chest, stopping around his nipples.

“Do you care if I… ?” Alexander trailed off, finishing his sentence by taking one of the pink buds between his thumb and forefinger and rolling it around.

“Please…,” Carter moaned out, lacing his fingers through Alexander’s hair. Alexander put his mouth around the other nipple that he wasn’t massaging between his fingers-he also took it to the next step and put his knee between Carter’s leg, happy when he quickly feels Carter start to grind down onto him. Alexander peered up through his lashes, and groaned at the sight; Carter’s eyes were squeezed shut and he was biting hard on his lip.

“Oh God!” Carter shouted, grinding down particularly hard. Alexander had completely forgotten that the male submissives in the Soulmate Phenomenon, had self lubrication, and he saw that Carter's light colored jeans were now damp around his bum. Alexander traced a finger down the wet spot pressing a little harder where his hole would be and Carter bucked up in suprise and let out a little whine, which shamelessly made Alexander sport a hard on. It was then he also realized Carter was probably close to his orgasm and wanted to make sure Carter was okay with finishing.

“Do you wanna cum, love?” Alexander asked, and the raspiness of his voice, made Carter fall over the edge, riding out his orgasm by continuing to ride Alexander’s leg.

Alexander scrambled to cover Carter up with a blanket, as the front door opened to reveal Riley standing there his eyes wide as he realized what he had walked into.

“Turn away you fucking fucker!” Alexander shouted-he didn’t want anybody to see Carter like this. Riley quickly looked away mumbling an apology.

Alexander whispered in Carter’s ear that he would run upstairs and grab him some clothes, and a few seconds later, he returned with a pair of Carter's jeans and underwear that he had left here the last time he spent the night (which was practically every night, but Alexander was worried it was too soon to ask the boy to move in with him, and Carter didn't want to seem clingy by asking).

Carter quickly slid off his jeans and underwear underneath the blanket, so neither boys could see-he was too embarrassed to change in front of Alexander right now.

"Okay I'm good," Carter mumbled, meaning for Riley to turn back around.

Alexander excused himself to the bathroom, where he may or may not have jerked himself to the image of a blissed out Carter.

*

"I should probably get my stuff together," Carter sighed. He had exams this week and he was going to stay at Marshall's all week because from Carter's college to Marshall's house it was a shorter walk. Carter had made the hard decision to not see Alexander all week in order to focus on his studies.

"Nooooo," Alexander pouted wrapping his arms tighter around the small boy that was sitting in his lap. He was not looking forward to this week at all. Luckily though, he has bought a shit ton of weed and alcohol in preparation for it.

"Let me go," Carter giggled, trying to pry Alexander's arms off of him, and then squealed as Alexander stood up and hefted him up over his shoulder.

"I will go with you so I can spend all the time with you I can," Alexander declared, starting up the stairs. Carter rolled his eyes in response, but he secretly melted inside from the endearing comment.

Riley shook his head and smiled at the actions of the couple. It made /him/ feel happy that Alexander was happy. Carter was good for Alexander. They were good for each other.

Alexander bade Carter goodbye by hugging him tightly, and then when Carter tilted his head up, Alexander kissed him hard on the mouth. Carter stumbled backward because of this, but Alexander placed a protective hand on his lower back and his other hand cupped the boy's face. When the kiss was finished, Alexander hugged him again, and breathed deeply. He wasn't going to be able to have this feeling for a while, so he damn well was going to enjoy it.

Carter waved goodbye to Riley, and then, got into Marshall's car.

"Explain." Marshall demanded as soon as Carter got in the car-Marshall knew that Carter had never kissed anybody before, insisting on saving himself for his Soulmate, so when he saw Carter kiss Alexander it filled Marshall with a million questions. And so, he told Marshall /everything/ and by the end Marshall was speechless.

"Holy shit. Holy fucking shit."

"You aren't mad?" Carter mumbled, scared Marshall might think he was a slut.

"Of course not Jesus Christ, just shocked you fucked around with him this early on. You've always said you wanted to wait a while when you found your Soulmate."

"He's amazing Marshall. He's so freaking perfect it's unreal. He is just so sweet and funny, and everything I could've asked for and more," Carter said, missing Alexander so much already. He wasn't sure how he thought he could handle this whole week.

Marshall smiled at his bestfriends rambling. He had been concerned recently with Carter's wellbeing, emotionally anyway. But this reassured him that Carter will be okay and he felt so much better.

When they reached Marshall's house, Carter set up in the guest bedroom-he normally stayed in Marshall's room but he really wanted to focus, and Marshall loudly singing Lana Del Rey songs was not the ideal environment for focusing. Carter looked at his phone, and saw a text from Alexander that said; "You can call me whenever you want to. Seriously. You won't be annoying or clingy I promise."

Carter had recently confessed to him that he was scared of being clingy, Alexander had reassured him that he wasn't at all clingy, and he likes clingy anyway. But Alexander still reassures him constantly that he's not being irritating of anything which Carter is thankful for.

He picks up his phone and calls Alexander.

"Hello?" Carter hears Alexander say.

"Hey," he responds his present worries melting away at the sound of his Souldmate's voice. It was husky and gravelly from it being late at night, and it made Carter's cheeks blush because it turned him on oh-so much.

"Miss me already?" Alexander teases Carter, even though he himself already misses the boy so dreadfully much already.

"Yeah. A lot," Carter responds in a small voice, fiddling with the end of the swearshirt he was wearing.

"I miss you so, so much."

Carter smiled at this, and hugged a pillow to his chest.

"You should move in with me," Alexander blurted out, not planning to ask this now, but figuring it was a good time since they were talking about how much they missed each other.

"Definitely," Carter responded, while wondering even more how he was going to get through this week, especially now because of the prospect of moving in with Alexander.

"You need to go," Alexander finally said, knowing that he needed to let Carter get to his studying.

"Yeah probably," he sighed.

"You'll do great babe. You are so smart," Alexander reassured, knowing his poor, sweet Carter was stressing himself out.

"Thank you," Carter responds hanging up now because he knows if he waited any longer he would stay on the phone with Alexander for the rest of the evening.

 

It was only Wednesday, and Carter was ready to pull out his hair.

He was stressed from exams, which already made him want punch himself in the face.

He needed to get his things to Alexander's before his rent is due, which is Sunday, which means he only has Saturday.

Later that Saturday, there was going to be a small going away type party at Alexanders for Riley and Claudia since they were moving for Claudia's job.

Because Riley is leaving, Alexander is really upset, even though he won't admit it to Carter because he knows that Carter has a lot to worry about already.

And above all of these, he can't see Alexander and he has cried once so far which was on the phone with him last night and Alexander wanted to comfort the boy so badly.

So, Carter decides he deserves a break and walks the two hour walk over to Alexanders.

When he arrives, Carter feels like an ice cube. It was only 30 degrees out, and he didn't have a winter coat so this walk thing probably wasn't his brightest move.

Alexander was sitting inside with Riley watching some stupid show off of MTV, when he heard a knock at his door.

As soon as he opened it and saw it was Carter he sweeped the small boy into his arms and spun him around, smiling even more when he heard him giggle.

He set Carter back down on the ground, and then realized Carter had walked here in nothing more than a sweater, joggers, and vans, and he frowned at the boy.

"You should've called me to come pick you up, you're freezing. You are going to get sick," Alexander said, gently scolding the small boy.

"I didn't want to bother you," Carter responded shrugging his shoulders.

"Let's go upstairs and I'll get you some warmer clothes," Alexander said, lacing his hand with Carter's.

When they got up to Alexander's room, Alexander gently tackled Carter onto his bed.

"Hello," Carter said smiling at Alexander who was staring at him.

"Hey," Alexander said, a smile growing on his face. He leaned over and connected his lips with Carter's, whose hands trailed up Alexander's back, and Alexander flinched at how cold they were, but kissed the boy harder.

Alexander started to trail kisses from Carter's jaw, down to his neck where he started to make lovebites.

Carter laced his fingers through Alexander's thick black hair, while Alexander placed his hands on Carter's bum, squeezing it gently, but when he was about to move his hands, Carter had different ideas.

"Keep doing that," he said, sounding breathless.

"Does it feel good baby?" Alexander asked, squeezing more aggressively this time, and then chuckled when he saw Carter shake his head.

Alexander peppered Carter's face with kisses while whispering how pretty he was.

Carter tightly gripped onto Alexander's forearm, letting out a whimper as Alexander continued to massage his ass.

Carter's other hand was now clenching the bed sheets, and his eyes were closed shut tightly, his lip between his teeth which was starting to bleed from the pressure.

Alexander took his bottom lip in his mouth, sucking on it to keep the pain away.

Carter came hard-his hand leaving tiny bruises on Alexander's arm.

After Carter had recovered from his orgasm, which Alexander had helped by whispering in his ear what a good boy he was, Alexander took the small boy in his arms. Carter's head was tucked underneath Alexander's chin, and his hands rested on Alexander's chest. Alexander's hands were resting on the boys lower back, and their legs were tangled with each other.

"I love you," Carter whispered, truly meaning it. He wanted to spend every moment with Alexander.

Alexander smiled, hugging the boy tighter. "I love you too."


End file.
